‘Fairy light’ bedroom bomber jailed for life
A “BEDROOM-radicalised” jihadist who planned to blow up high-speed trains with bombs triggered by fairy lights was jailed for life yesterday.
Zahid Hussain, 29, built a pressure cooker bomb similar to the one used by the Boston marathon bombers.
Thankfully the device was incorrectly made and would not have gone off, Winchester Crown Court heard.
Mr Justice Sweeney told Hussain: “If detonated in a crowded area, it would have been potentially fatal to those within metres of it and would have potentially caused serious injury among those up to 10 metres away.”
CCTV had showed Hussain climbing down a storm drain near the high-speed, London-Birmingham rail line, a possible target. He was arrested after being seen “patrolling” streets near his home in Alum Rock, Birmingham, in August 2015. Police found books on guerrilla warfare at his home, as well as evidence of his “pronounced interest” in Isis, Osama Bin Laden and Boston bombers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who killed three people in 2013.
While doctors diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, Mr Justice Sweeney said Hussain’s crime was only partly down to his illness. “The principal factor was his voluntary bedroom radicalisation,” he said.
In May Hussain was found guilty of preparing terrorist acts. He was yesterday jailed for life and must spend at least 15 years behind bars.